The Immortal Hunter
Something cold dripping onto Dani's closed lips stirred her from the exhausted, almost unconscious state she'd worked herself into as Decker had carried her through the woods. Opening her eyes, she found him kneeling over her and glanced around with confusion to see she was tied down to the bed in her room. Since the bed was without a bed frame or headboard, the rope had simply been tied to one wrist, somehow passed under the bed, and then brought up to tie to her other wrist. The same had been done with her ankles. Primitive, but effective, she decided as she tugged at the rope and found the weight of the bed held her in place.
Dani didn't recall how she'd gotten there and realized she must have zoned out for a bit. She remembered fighting frantically to make Decker put her down, or at least just release her hand so she could suck her knuckle again, but he had ignored her as he'd herded the Parkers to the house. By the time they'd gotten there, she'd been really out of it. She had vague recollections of Sam, Mortimer, Justin, and Leigh crowding around them, thought Mortimer had ordered Justin to take care of the Parkers while he went to help Lucian, and then all she could recall were walls and ceilings swimming overhead and now this.
"Open up."
Rolling her head, Dani peered up at Decker, noting that his expression was grim and closed as he held a bag of blood over her mouth. "I don't want-"
The words died in her throat as he tipped the bag of blood, pouring some of the cold, red liquid into her mouth. The moment the cool, life-giving blood splashed onto her tongue, Dani forgot about telling him she didn't want to be an animal like Leo and that he should just kill her now. Instead she opened her jaws wider and swallowed greedily as the liquid flowed in.
It was like a cool cloth on a burn, easing her agony and beating it briefly back, but all too soon the bag was empty and the pain came roaring back like a riot of hoodlums charging up through her body demanding more. Dani was gasping under the attack when the door opened and Sam and Leigh rushed in, carrying three bags of blood each.
"We brought more," Sam announced as the two women rushed forward, their worried gazes on her.
"Thank you." Decker took a bag from Sam and used his teeth to rip off one corner. He then leaned over Dani to tip it over her mouth. She opened her lips eagerly, sighing as the cold blood slid down her throat, taming the riotous crowd inside.
They went through this four more times, five bags of blood altogether gushing into what had become the bottomless pit of her stomach, and then Dani stiffened as her body went still. There was no more rushing in her ears, no more acidy cramping in her stomach, and her heartbeat slowed to almost a stop. Dani felt trepidation creep over her then. It felt like the calm before a storm, and she just knew when it hit it would be a hurricane, devastating everything in its path.
"What is it?" Decker asked. He was eyeing her face with worry, another bag held, but unopened, in his hands.
"You tell me," she said tightly. "You're the expert here."
"I'm not an expert. I was born an immortal. I've never sat through a turning before," he admitted, and then turned to glance at Leigh in question.
"I'm afraid I haven't either," Lucian's life mate admitted, worry clear in her expression.
Dani heard Decker sigh, and then he turned back to her and said, "Tell me what's happening."
She opened her mouth to speak, and then cried out as it all charged back. The rushing in her ears returned, but was now a roaring, making her deaf to everything else. The acidy cramping returned in earnest and then became an invisible bed of knives slamming down from the ceiling, stabbing through her stomach and chest and then shooting off in all directions through her body. And her heartbeat began racing, charging, thudding so hard she feared it would explode out of her chest. But worse still was the blast that went off in her head. Pain as she'd never experienced ripped her skull apart. Her body then began to convulse, and Dani lost the ability to see or even think. She was pure sensation now, aware only of the agony tearing at her.
"Dear God, what's happening?" The question screamed through Decker's head, even as Sam asked it aloud when Dani began to convulse on the bed.
"Maybe I'd better call Lucian and see if this is normal," Leigh said.
"No. Lucian can't do anything," he said at once. "Call Bastien and tell him to send over drugs and an IV."
Leigh nodded, but before she could go in search of a phone, Dani suddenly began to thrash.
Decker turned back to the bed just in time to see her jerk her hands toward her chest. She appeared to be trying to grab at her stomach, or perhaps her heart, but the rope stopped her... for half a second, and then the sound of the box spring frame's snapping reached his ears just as her hands continued toward the middle and up. The edge of the destroyed box spring and mattress on the side Decker wasn't sitting on curled upward as Dani grabbed not for her chest or stomach, but for her head. Her fingers raked into her hair, catching handfuls and then fisting around them as she pressed against her skull, and then just as quickly she began to tug outward.
Had Decker not launched himself to grab her hands and stop her just then, he was pretty sure Dani would have torn whole hanks of hair out of her scalp. Fortunately, he did grab her and then struggled to hold her down and keep her from hurting herself, but her legs were now moving too, her whole body bucking. Decker was more than grateful for Leigh's help when she launched herself on Dani's legs, but when he saw Sam in his peripheral vision, coming up the side of the bed to help by taking one of the arms, he roared, "No! Stay back. She's too strong. She could kill you right now without even realizing it."
"But you two can't hold her alone," Sam pointed out, her eyes frantic.
Decker didn't respond, but knew she was right. While he and Leigh were strong thanks to the nanos, the combination of nanos and the pain Dani was suffering was making her unmanageable. He was about to suggest Sam call Justin upstairs when the bedroom door opened and he saw his cousin Etienne, and Etienne's redheaded wife, Rachel, rush into the room carrying two large duffel bags.
The moment the pair saw the state of things, they dropped the bags and rushed to the bed.
"What happened?" Rachel asked, moving up on the other side of the bed to catch at that arm even as Etienne moved to help Leigh hold Dani's legs.
"She's turning," Decker muttered. Even with the four of them holding her down, they couldn't keep her still.
"Yes, we know that," Rachel said. "We were at the office when Lucian called asking Bastien to send out an IV and some drugs for a turning. We offered to bring them over and help out," she explained, and then added, "But I meant why is she like this already? Lucian said she'd been given the nanos only an hour ago, and Kate took three or four hours to get to this stage."
Decker frowned. "You were at Kate's turning?"
"I may work in a morgue, but I'm still a doctor," she pointed out dryly. "Knowing that, Kate asked me to be on hand in case anything went wrong."
"And it didn't go like this?" Decker asked with worry.
She shook her head, grimacing as Dani nearly got loose, and she had to pretty much sit on her arm to keep it even close to still.
"This started after the fifth bag of blood," Sam said, moving a little closer to the bed.
"You've already given her blood?" Etienne asked. "How?"
"Her mouth," Decker answered. "I opened the bags one after another and poured them in."
"Oh."
That soft sound of understanding drew his eyes to Rachel to see her biting her lip. "What is it?"
"I-Well, I think that's probably sped things along a bit," she admitted. "According to Marguerite, they've found that using the IV slows the process a little because it takes longer for the blood to get into the body. But it also reduces the risk of the turnee injuring themselves or someone else. However, if you poured five bags down her throat one after the other, then the nanos have probably gone into overdrive and are doing everything at once."
Decker cursed.
"It's all right," Rachel assured him. "It just means she'll get through it more quickly." She then glanced to Sam and, her voice vibrating as Dani's thrashing bounced her around, said, "Hi, I'm Rachel Argeneau."
"Sam Willan," Sam said, tearing her gaze from Dani and offering a distracted smile. "Mortimer's life mate."
"Bastien told us," the redhead assured her. "Sam, do you think you could go look in the smaller bag and bring one of the little black cases inside it to me?"
Sam nodded and rushed to the bags, seeming happy to have something to do to help the situation. When she returned with the little black case, Rachel shifted to a more stable seat on Dani's arm and then took the case and opened it to reveal two needles and two ampoules inside.
"What's that?" Decker asked with concern.
"A combination paralytic and numbing agent," Rachel answered as she retrieved one needle and one ampoule and prepared a shot. "It won't completely remove the pain, but it will ease it considerably and paralyze her so that she can't hurt herself or anyone else."
"How long will it take to work?" Decker asked as Rachel gave Dani the shot.
"Pretty quickly," she announced. "Fortunately, Bastien's boys have come up with some pretty powerful stuff. This shot would kill a mortal, but the nanos will prevent that on her. Unfortunately, they'll also make it so that the drug is only effective in the short term and will have to be administered at regular half-hour intervals."
Decker nodded. The nanos tended to try to fight off the effects of, and remove, any chemicals in the system that weren't there naturally. It made it very difficult for one of their kind to be an alcoholic or drug addict. The immortal that went down that route had to continually be taking in large amounts of alcohol or drug-soaked blood from a mortal to stay high or drunk. Even the tranquilizer on the bullets they used was effective for only half an hour to forty-five minutes, which was more than long enough to get the rogue chained up and subdued. At least, that was normally the case, Decker thought, recalling that Leo had been affected for only a matter of minutes.
"Dear God," Rachel breathed suddenly, her gaze locked on Dani's face. "Bastien didn't tell us who it was. This is Dr. McGill."
"You know her?" Etienne asked with surprise.
Rachel nodded. "She trained in Toronto and interned at our hospital for six months before opening her own practice... in Windsor, I think." She frowned and turned to Decker almost accusingly. "What the hell is happening?"
"She's my life mate," Decker said quietly.
"Oh." She relaxed. "So you turned her?"
He shook his head. "Not me. Leo did."
"Christ," Etienne breathed, drawing Rachel's confused eyes his way.
"Who's Leo?" she asked with bewilderment.
"He's the no-fanger that disappeared from the clearing up north when they found Nicholas," Etienne said. Apparently they'd been filled in briefly on at least part of the recent events and Rachel had merely forgotten the name, because she said, "Oh," and nodded again.
"Did you know about Nicholas being Thomas and Jeanne Louise's brother?" Leigh asked curiously.
Rachel nodded. "I had trouble drinking blood when I was first turned. Thomas helped me out. He said his sister-in-law used to have the same problem, but they found a fix for it and he hooked me up with a couple of straws. I didn't think anything of it until I was talking to Jeanne Louise at Kate's wedding shower and asked her about brothers and sisters. She said there wasn't anyone else, just her and Thomas."
Leigh nodded, "We had a similar conversation where she told me the same thing. I guess she took it badly when Nicholas went rogue."
"Yes," Rachel murmured, and then finished, "I didn't confront her then on what Thomas had said, I wasn't sure if I'd misunderstood him or something, so I waited until I could ask Etienne about it and he told me about Nicholas."
Silence fell in the room for a moment, and then Leigh asked, "Why is it so awful that Leo turned Dani?" When everyone turned to glance at her, she shrugged and added, "I mean, Morgan was a rogue and he turned me and no one seemed bothered by it, but everyone seems super upset that this rogue, Leo, turned Dani."
"Because Leo isn't just a rogue, he's a no-fanger," Decker said quietly.
"I know, but do the fangs really matter?" she asked. "I mean, we use bagged blood anyway."
"It's not that," Rachel explained, "According to Bastien, being turned by a no-fanger is dangerous."
"Why?" Sam asked curiously.
When no one else answered, Decker said grimly, "Because it means she only has a one in three chance of coming out all right, an edentate, just missing the fangs but otherwise like us."
Sam's eyes widened with horror. "You mean she could die?"
He hesitated and then admitted, "One in three do."
"So, one in three die, and one in three come out all right." She paused and raised her eyebrows. "What happens to the other one in three?"
"They come out a no-fanger, crazy like Leonius," Etienne answered when Decker remained tight-lipped.
Decker found himself swallowing back the fear suddenly lodged in his throat as they all turned to peer at Dani. He'd rather have Dani die during the turn itself than see her become like Leonius. If that happened, she would either have to be put down like a rabid dog, or be kept locked up and restrained for the rest of her life, which could very well be eternity. Decker didn't want to see Dani locked up, but didn't know if he had it in him to take her life if she was one of the one in three who went mad. She was his life mate. She was also someone he'd come to care for and even love during the short period they'd been together. There was so much to admire in Dani, he hadn't been able to help himself... and now he was faced with the possibility of losing her.
There was a horrible taste in her mouth. That was Dani's first awareness as she began to wake up. That and the fact that her mouth was so dry, her tongue felt like a roll of used-up sandpaper. Moving it around in her mouth, she tried to work up some saliva, but what little she did manage to draw out merely made the taste in her mouth worsen. Grimacing, Dani opened her eyes and peered around the bedroom she'd used the first night at the enforcer house, and then she recalled everything and sat up abruptly. Something brushed against her arm and she glanced down, a scowl claiming her lips as she saw the ropes fastened to her wrists and trailing away across the mattress. Dani tugged at them, a little surprised when the frayed ends came snapping up and nearly hit her in the face.
She had a vague recollection of waking to find herself tied down, but-judging by the frayed ends-it looked as if the rope had been worn away. Her eyes slid to her feet to find that there were two more pieces of rope attached to her ankles. She was also still wearing the clothes she'd worn when taken from the mall.
Ignoring the rope for now, she peered around. The room was as empty as it had been the first day she'd woken here... except that the bags of clothes from their shopping trip sat neatly stacked against the wall.
She could change into clean clothes, Dani thought, and then grimaced at the idea of pulling nice clean clothes on her less than clean body. She felt greasy, as if she'd just worked an eight-hour shift over a fryer.
Dani grimaced and started to crawl to the edge of the mattress. She then braced one hand on the wall and forced herself to her feet. She was as unsteady as a newborn foal when she finally straightened. She closed her eyes briefly and leaned against the wall until the trembling this little bit of activity had caused eased slightly. She then walked carefully to the bathroom door, her hand sliding along the wall as she went, ready to press against it and keep her upright should her legs buckle.
When she made it to the bathroom door, it raised her confidence a little. She went straight to the bathtub, turned the taps to start the water running, and then manipulated the button to switch it to shower mode. Water immediately began to surge down, catching her head and shoulders, but Dani merely closed her eyes, turned her head, and opened her mouth to let it gush in.
A memory from the night before immediately flashed across her mind, and Dani stiffened as she recalled Decker pouring the blood into her mouth. Groaning, she turned her head down again and forced the memory away, unready to contend with what had happened yet. She then straightened and started to pull off her shirt, but saw the ropes on her wrists and paused to remove those. One came off easily, but the knots on the other were tight and resisted her efforts. Leaving it on, she turned her attention to the ropes at her ankles and quickly removed those, then tried the last rope on her right wrist again.
Dani fumbled with it briefly, but finally gave it up and simply stripped off her clothes, stepped under the shower, and tugged the glass door closed. The water was colder than she normally liked, but it was bracing as well and she stood under it, allowing it to pound down over her head briefly before adjusting the temperature. She then reached for the soap and began to clean herself, washing away the film of greasy waste that had apparently been forced out of her body by the nanos. It was the only explanation she could think of for it, but since thinking about it forced her to think about last night, Dani pushed these thoughts away and simply concentrated on soaping herself clean.
It wasn't until she was washing her hair that Dani began to consider her situation. She was now one of the dreaded no-fangers. At least she presumed she was, though in truth, other than the weakness still plaguing her, she didn't feel any different. She didn't now have a mad urge to cut up people to get their blood, or leap on them to lick open wounds.
Dani grimaced at the memory of assaulting poor John Parker. She was pretty sure she wouldn't be doing that were he to walk into the bathroom right now. In fact, the idea of lapping up blood from his forehead, or even drinking it from a glass just seemed gross to her... much as it would have before Leonius had forced his blood on her. It made Dani wonder if perhaps the nanos hadn't taken. Perhaps she hadn't gotten enough to bring about the turn, or perhaps her body had fought off the nanos somehow.
The thought had barely entered her mind before Dani's more sensible side slapped it down. It wasn't very likely that her body had fought off the nanos. It was more probable that she was just full of blood right now and not craving madly for it as she had last night. But even that gave her hope. She seemed to be thinking clearly, her thoughts didn't strike her as insane or unusual. Perhaps if she kept herself full of blood, she might still be able to live a relatively normal life.
Dani considered that as she rinsed the shampoo out of her hair, and had almost convinced herself that it would work, that she could get blood from the Argeneau Blood Bank as Decker claimed immortals did, keep herself well-fed, and continue working at her practice... perhaps even continue her relationship with Decker. That fantasy melted away as she recalled Leonius's claim that immortals hated no-fangers, that they hunted them down and killed them, and that Decker would want to kill both Leonius and her when he found out.
Leaning against the tiled wall, Dani closed her eyes and tried to think over the sudden howling in her mind at the very thought of Decker despising and wanting to kill her. She tried to tell herself that he wouldn't, that he could have killed her last night, and hadn't, but her stupid mind immediately pointed out that while he hadn't killed her, he'd tied her down like an animal and had been grim-faced and cold as he'd poured bag after bag of blood into her mouth.
As those memories assaulted her, Dani feared Decker might very well loathe her now, and while he hadn't killed her yet, it might only be because he thought they might use her. Maybe they thought she had some information about Leonius and his son that they could use to hunt them down if they hadn't caught and killed Leonius already.
She had to get out of there, Dani realized. She had to get out of that house before someone realized she was awake and tried to tie her down again. Pushing away from the wall, she turned the water off and pulled the door open. The towels she'd used after her bath the first morning hung over the towel rack. Dani grabbed one and quickly dried herself, ignoring the way the now-wet piece of rope still attached to her wrist slapped against her. She then swiftly rubbed her hair to get the worst of the water out before tossing the towel aside and heading for the door. Finding the bedroom still empty, she rushed to the bags against the wall and tipped up the first one to empty its contents on the floor.
Several silk panties and a summery blue halter dress tumbled to the floor. Deciding that would do, she grabbed the nearest pair of panties and pulled them on, then tugged the halter dress on over her head, yanked it into place, and tied the halter around her neck as she headed for the door. Once there, she paused to listen, but when she couldn't hear sounds coming from the hall, Dani eased the door open and peered out, relieved to find it empty. She wasted no time, but tiptoed out and to the stairs. When no sounds of movement reached her from the main floor, Dani headed silently down to the entry. It was when she saw the bright sunny day outside that she slowed.
The fact that it was daylight explained why the house appeared empty. Dani supposed that meant Sam would be at work, and everyone else would be asleep in their beds, completely unaware that she'd broken free at some point during her turn and was now awake and escaping. That was a good thing. However, it caused other problems, she realized, recalling Decker saying that immortals avoided going out in sunlight because it caused damage and increased the need for blood.
That was a definite problem, Dani acknowledged. She felt fine right now, but feared she might not be after an hour or so walking along a dusty country road under a baking sun. She shifted on her feet, unsure what to do, and then thought of the vehicles in the garage. Perhaps she could take one of those. It would be stealing, of course, but she could leave it somewhere and call later to tell them where it was. Besides, better a thief than ending up attacking someone in a frenzy for blood.
Dani turned and was about to head for the kitchen when she heard the soft click of a door closing upstairs. When footsteps followed, moving quickly toward the stairs, she ducked into the empty living room and pressed herself to the wall, eyes locked on the archway to the hall. Her heart beat rapidly with the fear of discovery as she listened to someone jogging lightly down the stairs. She held her breath then, but the footsteps merely moved away toward the kitchen. She let her breath out with relief and glanced around, looking for a proper hiding spot.
That was when Dani saw John and Hazel Parker. The couple were seated on the lush carpet, upper bodies slumped against each other on the far wall, both apparently asleep, she realized as John let out a loud, snuffling snore. The sight of the couple answered one question for Dani. Leonius hadn't been caught. If he had, the couple would have been returned to their home with their memories altered.
John Parker let loose with another loud snore, and Dani began to worry that it might draw whoever had come downstairs into the room to check on the couple. She would definitely be discovered then. It was time to move. Easing up to the archway leading to the hall, she started into the entry, planning to check out the room across the hall for a possible haven where she might think. But she was only halfway across when the person in the kitchen started out and up the hall once more.
Panic yanking on her, Dani changed direction and slid into the empty coat closet next to the front door, easing the door carefully shut in an effort not to make a sound.